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Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Research article

Synergistic study of a Danshen (Salvia Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma) and Sanqi (Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma) combination on cell survival in EA.hy926 cells

Authors: Xian Zhou, Valentina Razmovski-Naumovski, Antony Kam, Dennis Chang, Chun Guang Li, Kelvin Chan, Alan Bensoussan

Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Background

This study investigated the protective effects of the Danshen (DS) and Sanqi (SQ) herb pair on cell survival in the human cardiovascular endothelial (EA.hy926) cell line exposed to injury.

Methods

Nine combination ratios of Danshen-Sanqi extracts (DS-SQ) were screened for their protective effects in the EA.hy926 cell line against two different cellular impairments induced by DL-homocysteine (Hcy) – adenosine (Ado) – tumour necrosis factors (TNF) and oxidative stress (H2O2), respectively. The type of interaction (synergistic, antagonistic, additive) between DS and SQ was analysed using a combination index (CI) model. The effects of key bioactive compounds from DS and SQ were tested using the same models. The compound from each herb that demonstrated the most potent activity in cell viability was combined to evaluate their synergistic/antagonistic interaction using CI.

Results

DS-SQ ratios of 6:4 (50–300 μg/mL) produced synergistic effects (CI < 1) in restoring cell viability, reducing lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage and caspase-3 expressions against Hcy-Ado-TNF. Additionally, DS-SQ 6:4 (50–150 μg/mL) was found to synergistically protect endothelial cells from impaired cellular injury induced by oxidative damage (H2O2) by restoring reduced cell viability and inhibiting excessive expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In particular, the combination of salvianolic acid A (SA) and ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) at 4:6 (1–150 μM) showed synergistic effects in preventing cytotoxic effects caused by Hcy-Ado-TNF (CI < 1). This simplified combination also demonstrated synergistic effects on H2O2-induced oxidative damage on EA.hy926 cells.

Conclusions

This study provides scientific evidence to support the traditional use of the DS-SQ combination on protecting endothelial cells through their synergistic interactions.
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Metadata
Title
Synergistic study of a Danshen (Salvia Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma) and Sanqi (Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma) combination on cell survival in EA.hy926 cells
Authors
Xian Zhou
Valentina Razmovski-Naumovski
Antony Kam
Dennis Chang
Chun Guang Li
Kelvin Chan
Alan Bensoussan
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 2662-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-019-2458-z

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